Reading The Waves

Over the last 20 years, a very important part of my jobs has been to read the waves. In fact, reading the waves would probably be the most foundational necessity and requirement of my job. This was important for the safety of my passengers. As a dive instructor, I would look at the surf to determine how safe the entry would be. As a dive boat captain I would study the waves to make sure that the dive tour could be done safely and be enjoyable. As a delivery captain I would constantly monitor the wave crests and troughs to insure that no damage would occur on the way to the destination. Mariners study waves!

I remember in Guam there was a mushroom shaped rock at the mouth of Apra harbor. You could immediately tell the sea state at the mouth of the harbor by seeing how high the swell would wash up on the rock. All of the skippers in Apra harbor knew that the mushroom rock was accurate. The problem was seeing the rock. If you left too early in the morning it was too dark. And then there was the problem of fog. Even on a clear day it was hard to see the rock clearly because of the distance from the harbor.

Every mariner needs a good pair of binoculars. These are my trusty binoculars that I bought back in 1992. They have been with me to Indonesia, Micronesia, and the Philippines. To Japan and all the way through the Aleutians to the Bering Sea. Also, on all of the deliveries I did from Sitka, Alaska to New York City.

Other than studying waves, I used my binoculars on drift dives as a dive boat captain. As the divers would drift with the current, I would keep their rising bubbles in view so that I would meet them when they came to the surface at the end of their dive. In 1994, while on a family vacation to the exotic Rock Islands in Palau, I saw first hand what disasters can occur during a drift dive. One day while on Palau, our family rented a skiff and operator to take us out through the breathtaking scenery of the Rock Islands.

A Map of the location of Palau in the western pacific.

The Rock Islands

Our family on vacation in Palau.

So as our family took a small boat to snorkel and explore the Rock Islands, little did we know that near the neighboring island of Peleilu, 6 Japanese divers had started doing a drift dive.

As the current moved them along one direction, the boat operator's motor killed and he couldn't get the engine started. The wind was blowing the opposite direction and the operator lost view of the raising bubbles. When he finally got the motor started he was quite a distance from the divers. He went back to the dive shop and told the authorities who then got a search party organized. Unfortunately, the divers perished before they were found. Even with 7 mil wetsuits on, the divers died from hypothermia.(they got so cold that they drowned) Some of the divers were never found. One of the divers who survived about 36 hours had written notes on her diving slate. She wrote the times that she saw planes or boats pass by but that didn't see her. Even in 87 degree water, eventually your body temperature will drop until you perish from hypothermia. This whole drama took place while our family was playing and enjoying the rock islands near by.

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Another experience that motivated me to get my good binoculars in the first place happened in 1992 when a diver that came into the dive shop frequently told me that he had run out of gas at the mouth of Apra Harbor and was drifting south. He told me that he saw me going by on the way to the dive site that morning but that we did not see him. Luckily he was found by some fishermen. Right after that I ordered my binoculars. They were top of the line and expensive but they have served me well over the years. I told myself that day that I would get the tools to be an instrument of rescue for the Lord.

One time in Truk while captaining the Thorfin, some divers went off to dive the Shinkoku Maru. From the pilot house the purser and I saw them get caught in a squall. The purser was so worried that he was going to call the Coast guard. I was able to see them with my good binoculars and saw that they made it through the squall safely and avoided a needless call to the Coast Guard.

May we always prepare ourselves to be instruments of rescue . . .

This photo was taken while reading the waves while delivering one of the 150 passenger

catamarans a couple of miles seaward of Fort Lauderdale, Florida

during a squall.

Psalms 89:9

Thou rulest the raging of the seas,

when the waves thereof arise,

thou stillest them.

Here is a poem I wrote about reading the waves.

The Face of the Sea

11-1-2008

By Capt. J. Brad Chapman

As I stand at the helm and gaze out on the calm,

There's something intriguing to me,

That the subtlest breeze blowing over the deep,

Can change the kind face of the sea.

From glassy to ripple, and ripple to wave,

The movement of air is so slight.

But little by little the wind gathers strength,

Till breakers reach dangerous heights.

Many a seaman have awoke to the dawn,

Of a beautiful, calm, cloudless day,

Only to find as they bask in the sun,

A storm building right in their way.

They'd let down their guard as the sea state was mild,

they'd forgotten how harsh it could be,

And now with tempestuous winds gaining strength,

they'd meet the wroth face of the sea.

With sail unreefed and hatch unsecured,

preparations undone or in haste,

the sea doesn't wait for convenience or ease,

and their caught in the storms fierce embrace.

The trials of life are like strengthening storms,

we don't notice the threat till too late,

cause we sail content on the calm seas of life,

and we sit back and seal our fate.

And so with the thunderous waves pounding in,

we forget in the midst of our strife,

that the tempest began with just one gentle breeze,

and we learn a great lesson of life.

We learn that a lifestyle of comfort and ease,

makes us soft, and complacent, and weak.

We need that brisk wind blowing stiff in our face.

to keep us alive at our peak. . . .

So greet the wild gail and square up to the wind,

prepare for the storms that might be.

From glassy to ripple, and ripple to wave,

Respect the kind face of the sea.

Hold Fast

My Righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go . . . . .    Job 27:6

We lived in Alaska for 12 years and did a lot of beach-combing during that time. One thing that one can find along the beaches in Alaska is the organism that anchors kelp to the bottom of the sea floor called a "hold fast". 

Here is some more information about a sea-weed hold-fast:

The root-like structure of a hold-fast.

I remember coming upon hold-fasts on the beach that were still connected around a rock and the sea weed had grown so large that during a storm the rock had come loose from the bottom and the sea weed plant had floated the rock until the whole thing had washed up on the beach. Even then the hold fast would not let go of the rock.

I also found the hollowed out cones that had washed up on the beach and dried out. In some instances they would dry out enough to use as tender for starting a fire. 

The sea weed would also develop gas filled pods that would float the heavy sea weed up to the surface. Bull kelp can grow 18 to 24 inches a day.

1st Nephi 15:24

And I said unto them that it was the word of God, 

and whoso would hearken unto the word of God,

and would hold fast unto it,

they would never perish: 

neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary

overpower them unto blindness,

to lead them away to destruction.

May we hold fast like the kelp is my prayer . . . . . . . .

Unforgettable Moments at Sea! #2

This blog is about another of those unforgettable moments at sea. To this day, when I think back on this experience it gives me goose bumps.

My journal entry the day I did a night dive on the Kiyosumi.

On the I 169 blog, I talked about this trip. The first dive that I did was the I 169 on October the 12th, 1994. The last dive that I did was a night dive on October the 19th. It was on the Kiyosumi Maru. The Kiyosumi was sunk on February 16, 1943 by planes from the Yorktown and the Enterprise.

This was going to be my last dive before I went home. I had already dove the Kiyosumi so when all the other divers started jumping in, I hung back so that I could dive alone. I knew as a dive instructor that it was not appropriate to dive alone but I wasn't feeling very social and wanted my last dive to ponder over the great week I had experienced. As I was alone, I decided to stay on the top of the wreck so that if I did have a problem, I could do a quick 40 foot ascent to safety.

A few minutes after the main group dropped down into the depths, I did a giant stride in and started my descent. In the distance, I could see the rays of the other divers dive lights cutting through the gloom as they dove down toward hold #5 to see the bicycles still in fairly good shape after so many years submerged. With the lights of the divers directed off in so many directions, it looked like a weird, multi-legged sea monster, dropping down into the depths. When I arrived at the upright starboard side next to the bomb damage at the bridge and central house, I saw some articles that had been found aboard over the years and put in a central location where divers could enjoy and photograph them. There was a large set of the binoculars that had been used on the bridge. It reminded me of my own Japanese made POLARIS - FUJINON binoculars. Also a canteen. I tried to visualize the Japanese sailors that would have used those items.

I swam out in the middle of the flat starboard side and decided to turn my dive light off not only to enjoy the eeriness of being alone but without a light, the total aloneness of the dark silence. I would hold my breath so that there wasn't even the sound of my rising bubbles. When I turned my dive light off, I was excited to see that there was phosphorescence in the water. I turned over and laid back on my tank so that I was looking straight up to the surface. With my dive light off and my eyes adjusted to natural light, it was so clear that I could see the starry sky. The glowing phosphorescence was caused by blooming phytoplankton. The only way to explain it is to say that the sea water was glowing a heavenly greenish-blue. It was absolutely surreal! It was so beautiful that I got goose bumps! The only other times that I can remember being so affected by light was seeing the Northern Lights for the first time up in Sitka, Alaska with our whole family. We all hooted and hollered in ecstasy. Also, as a young boy, sleeping under the stars in our back yard and seeing falling stars for the first time.

From time to time I would gaze out horizontally into the void to see if a big shark or other sea creature was looming in the distance. Of course, in a situation like that, your imagination takes over. Being alone in dark, deep sea in the middle of the ocean with that marine medium continuing around the globe is a feeling that I will never forget.

Here is a scientific explanation of Marine Phosphorescence by Encyclopedia Britannica:

Once again the scripture about "all things being created to bear record of HIM" came to mind. As I laid there I remember thinking to myself, "of all the places I could be right now, and I am alone, diving a ship wreck in the tropical star light". Other than being alone, the only better scenario would have been to share this moment with Denalee.

What a great ending to my adventure!

. . . so goes His wonders in the deep.

Flag of the Island of Truk

Atoll

I was browsing through a Robert Service poetry book and came upon a poem he wrote called "Atoll".  It immediately reminded me of a drawing that I did in my mission journal back in 1978. The words of his poem fit perfectly with my drawing.

Isn't that a beautiful poem? Robert Service died the year I was born. Maybe we passed on the way by. The following are pictures that I took while on a trip to the Ulithi Atoll. What a beautiful place that was! I worked as a Japanese dive guide for Japanese divers on the cruise ship, "Oceanic Grace".

Ulithi Atoll was so peaceful.  Just sky, sand, palms, and sea.

This is one of the Japanese Divemasters that I was working with.

This is the Cruise Ship "Oceanic Grace".

This is a map that shows the location of Ulithi Atoll in Micronesia.

A close-up map of the Atoll.

Some interesting stories from my trip to Ulithi:

They had me come stay on the ship the night before the departure so that all would go smooth. It was weird walking around the ship that night as there wasn't a soul around.

The ship had a small casino on board and in the evening after dinner all of the passengers would go to gamble. I would go out to the pool and be the only one there. One night there was a large bunch of bananas hanging at the pool. It hung 3 or 4 feet down. They were smaller than the bananas we usually buy at the store but boy were they tasty. They had been brought aboard at the island of Woliai. They were delicious and before I knew it I had eaten

a slug of them. I was worried that the next day I would be sick. No problem, I was fit as a fiddle the next day. 

I remember the music that was playing on board the ship at night. It was Astrid Gilberto, a Brazilian Bossa Nova singer. She sang a song called Insensitive. That style of music has always intrigued me since the first time I had heard it. The first time was in a little floating restaurant in Ensenada, Mexico with my parents when I was 16 or 17 years old.

The first dive site was several Landing Craft that had sunk after WW II. The US Army had given the natives in Ulithi Atoll the landing crafts after the war. They enjoyed driving them around the atoll until the fuel ran out and then a typhoon eventually sunk them. The Yap government had a representative on board as we dove so that no one would take items from the wreck or ocean. I remember seeing a white water pitcher that had the Naval symbol on the side of it. I also remember seeing the brass bell on one of the landing craft. Of course the reason those items were still there was because of the protection of those items by the government of Yap.

Another dive was along a wall on the south side of the island of Falalop. On the way back to the  dive boat, which was a tender for the cruise ship, two Black Tip reef sharks followed us back to the boat. They were just like the dogs who run up behind you when your back is turned and then move away when you face them. They were so aggressive that we ended up swimming backwards all the way to the boat. Later, we were told that the sharks are aggressive there because that was the area where the inhabitants throw their garbage into the ocean.

When we first arrived in the atoll, representatives of the ship met with some island leaders that had paddled up to the cruise ship in a canoe. They wanted payment for the cruise ship using the atoll as part of their voyage. The cruise ship reps gave the island leaders beer and disposable diapers as trade items. 

I found a beautiful Map Cowrie while diving on one of the Landing Crafts. It was empty, the animal was gone. Map Cowries are probably my favorite cowrie.

Here is another great poem about the sea by Robert Service.

The Luckiest Man in the World . . . . . .

I am the luckiest man in the world because since I have been married, I have had a faithful partner at my side every inch of the way. I have told Denalee many times during our life together that I enjoy her company more than anything else in the world. She has backed me up, supported, and been there through thick and thin. I have always been her biggest fan. (and she mine)

She inspires me!

At the Mother Temple (Beseki) on Mt. Gunung Agung in Bali, Indonesia.

Diving with Denalee off of the coast of Guam.

Scuba diving together in Bali, Indonesia.

At Talafofo Falls on Guam.

Denalee,   I love you,  Happy Mother's day!